ChukeeR's 266G Reef Savvy + Synergy Reef Build / Upgrade

HiddenUser · Jun 11, 2014

UPDATE: Skimmer arrived today. I unwrapped some of the plastic off my sump just to test the fitment...Time for pics!!

Our builder was to have broke ground on our new house mid-to-late May...That's been pushed back to end of June now...I'll just be staring at this until then.

AsphaltPays · Jun 11, 2014

Looks Amazing!

dson78 · Jun 11, 2014

This is going to be an awesome build, following along.

Jmonks · Jun 12, 2014

looks good

why do you have a bulkhead in the skimmer chamber?

HiddenUser · Jun 12, 2014

Jmonks said:
looks good

why do you have a bulkhead in the skimmer chamber?

With the Ghost Overflow there are 3 drains...1 full siphon, 1 partial siphon, and an emergency...If first drain clogs the second becomes a full siphon. If both the first and second drain clog, then the emergency drain would start draining straight into the skimmer chamber and I'd hear the water splashing down into the sump thus telling me something was wrong.

HiddenUser · Apr 6, 2015

Sheesh - It has been WAY to long since an update...Last summer got extremely busy with building a new home. As a result of having a new home built, I asked Felix to delay the building of my tank until we were moved into our new home...Finally when we got moved into our new home in November and about $40k of over budget due to a number of "significant other MUST have" upgrades and 3 months past our original planned move-in date, I asked Felix to delay a bit more until we as well as our finances settled. At least one of the upgrades was having the floor reinforced to handle the extra load of our tank.

Felix then called me in Feb to talk about some of the new things they were doing and to check in to see if I was ready for him to start building my tank. The nice part of working with Felix is that he's not pushy at all and he said he'd be more than willing to delay longer if I wanted, but at that point it had already been 12 months since I placed my order with him...(I'm probably one of the very few customers whom actually asks to delay the build of my tank???), haha! Anyway, at that point I ended up telling him lets get started with building this thing!

Spoke with Felix today and the glass for my tank has been ordered...Hopefully it'll arrive towards the end of April at which point he can begin assembly. In the mean time I've been researching return pumps. I still want to go with a DC return, but it's just a matter of finding one that will get me the 5-10x turnover that I want. Also debating getting 2 smaller pumps, one for each return, but at least I'd have redundancy, or just getting one beefy return pump...

Currently looking at 2x Waveline DC12000, 2x Jebao DC12000. Otherwise maybe a single Red Dragon 3 Speedy, albeit a bit more pricy.

Anyway - Stay tuned - Many more updates to follow!!

booth2010 · Apr 6, 2015

Following along, sounds like its gonna be a great build

kidtango · Apr 6, 2015

nice. looking forward to seeing your tank! It's worth it to spend extra money on a tank. A busted tank makes a very very sad reefer... The one thing I regret is not making sure and spending that extra cash to make sure I get a solid tank. Mine has been running for about a year, but I always have that deep fear inside and wondering if it will go south on me.

So you made the right decision by going with Reef Savvy. I will have them build my next tank for sure.

HiddenUser · Apr 9, 2015

So the question of the day is...Basement Sump or In-stand Sump...Kind of leaning towards basement sump as I'd basically have a 'fish room' with easy access to a utility sink, and plenty of space for other things as well...(mixing station, QT tank(s), etc)

Right above this area is our flex room which is where I'll be setting up the tank. When we built our house I asked our builder to make sure that the trusses in the area pictured below were engineered to handle an additional 3500-4000lbs of dead weight.

I'm thinking that I'll build a bench / stand that runs along the stud wall on the right hand side of the picture for the sump, QT tanks, ATO container, and maybe a refugium?

booth2010 · Apr 9, 2015

I would definitely go with basement sump, just means youll have to buy a stronger pump, but it would make working on all that easier

NeverlosT · Apr 9, 2015

For sure a basement sump. Get one of those Speedy pumps, or two! I would not run a Jebao pump externally. I tried it in the past and had bad experiences.

Things are looking good so far!

HiddenUser · Apr 9, 2015

NeverlosT said:
For sure a basement sump. Get one of those Speedy pumps, or two! I would not run a Jebao pump externally. I tried it in the past and had bad experiences.

Things are looking good so far!

I'd need two of Speedy pumps to get the ~10x turnover that I'm looking to have...and that's like $1700 for just the pumps. I'm slightly intrigued by the Reeflo Snapper / Dart Pumps, but I'm finding mixed reviews (which makes me worry a little).

booth2010 · Apr 9, 2015

Have you looked into Waveline DC pumps? I am not sure what gph you are looking for but the RSLL Waveline DC 10000II has 2853GPH and 16.4ft flow height..www.rlss.ca has chart showing gph at heights in meters

HiddenUser · Apr 9, 2015

booth2010 said:
Have you looked into Waveline DC pumps? I am not sure what gph you are looking for but the RSLL Waveline DC 10000II has 2853GPH and 16.4ft flow height..www.rlss.ca has chart showing gph at heights in meters

Yep - At the moment a bit torn between that pump and the Deepwater BLDC15 DC Brushless Pump. Probably go Waveline since it doesn't use GB Threads for the inlet and outlet.

booth2010 · Apr 9, 2015

And you could still get 2 for under $800 if ya wanted lol

Sangheili · Apr 9, 2015

Looking forward to seeing this tank.

FrankAbagnale · Apr 9, 2015

Sweet! I'm glad things are moving forward. Subscribed!

HiddenUser · Apr 10, 2015

Electrician is scheduled to come out next Thurs! Going to have him add in 3 new 20 amp circuits and 3 new outlet boxes in the area that will become my fish room. Each outlet box will have it's own dedicated circuit.

Also, while they were building our house I had the electricians put 2 outlet boxes, each with its own 20 amp circuit (on the first floor on the wall which will be behind the tank)...so I shouldn't have any issues with blowing breakers and there's redundancy as well increase a breaker decides to go bad or trip.

All of the outlets are GFI as well.